THE CRIME TRIANGLE OF KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM INCIDENTS IN COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA A 'Litmus' Test for Situational Crime Prevention

Crime science research over the last few decades has shown that crime tends to concentrate, most notably spatially and temporally. These and other concentrations oriented by the crime triangle (victims, offenders and places) offer important implications for the development of effective prevention initiatives. Yet, these findings have mostly been derived from analysis of conventional domestic crimes leaving questions as to whether similar patterning occurs among less studied crime types, such as kidnappings. This study examined 9,696 kidnapping incidents (2002-2011) in Colombia, South America, to see whether kidnappings for ransom exhibit similar concentrations according to the crime triangle framework. Results suggest that kidnappings indeed have spatio-temporal and other concentrations, which could be used to guide policy makers and policing organizations in the formulation of strategic preventive action, rather than relying on reactive efforts after kidnapping incidents have already occurred.